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Gessler: Unique, similar issues across Colorado

Part 4 of an occasional series on Gessler's statewide listening tour

ByJENNI GRUBBS Times Staff Writer

Posted:
01/14/2013 12:40:41 PM MST

Colorado Secretary of State Scott Gessler, center, listens to Morgan County residents and officials discuss what they thought of November's General Election during a stop in Fort Morgan as part of his statewide listening tour.

Colorado Sec. of State Scott Gessler has gotten an earful from Colorado voters and officials about the 2012 election, but he wants to hear even more.

Gessler spoke with The Fort Morgan Times following his listening tour stop in Fort Morgan and shared some of what he had been hearing at other locations.

"It's all really varied," he said. "It's all over the place."

He did say that he had heard about a lot of local issues, including problems with canvassing groups trying to get the word out about their candidates, traffic issues with overrun polling stations and various "unique" concerns in Pueblo and El Paso County.

"Overall, it's a blend," he said.

One thing he said he had heard just about everywhere, though, was concerns about requiring or not requiring photo ID to vote.

These concerns run from whether people should be required to have one to whether it would be considered a poll tax for such requirement, since the ID's cost money.

Gessler pointed out that there is financial assistance available for those who cannot afford to purchase a photo ID or who don't drive and so don't have a driver's license.

"If people have a financial hardship, they can get a waiver" and get a free ID, he said.

From Jan. 1, 2010, to Jan. 31, 2011, the state issued more than 4,220 such free identification documents, including ID cards, driver's licenses and permits and other documents, according to information from Gessler's office.

And while Gessler is in favor of some sort of statewide voter ID, he recognizes that it would cost money.

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"You certainly have those concerns," he said. "You have to implement it correctly."

He cited Indiana and Georgia as states where that had already happened and was working with "incredibly good successes."

Gessler said that he had heard from voters that they had more confidence in elections where identification was required to vote.

Because of that, "it's correlated with increased turnout," he said.

He said that Kansas also had a "very strict photo ID rule" and that state had "very low non-compliance" in the 2012 General Election.

"When you look at the general facts on the ground, photo ID works well," he said.

He said he had also heard concerns from Coloradans about voter registration drives and people being registered improperly by private organizations.

Gessler said that sometimes there is confusion with how this is supposed to work and that such voter registration drives did not have the best controls available to his office to regulate them.

And while this was not a concern in Morgan County, mainly because of the smaller population size, it was a major concern for many people on the Front Range, he said.

Gessler also said that "a lot of people don't know the rules" about who can vote.

He said he receives letters from non-citizens who mistakenly registered to vote and then found out that they were not allowed to do so.

He shared a few such letters with THe Times. One came from a Canadian citizen who was told she could vote in local elections but not national ones. And an immigrant going through the process to gain citizenship sent one saying he had gotten confused about the process and when he would be able to register to vote. Both letter-writers asked Gessler's office to remove them from the voter registration rolls.

Gessler said that such letters can help people keep out of trouble with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), but that these letters also "protect the integrity of the system."

"It's a balance you have to strike," he said. "I think we've made progress there, but we have a ways to go."

He said that his office can check voter registration rolls against a federal database to make sure the registered person is a U.S. citizen.

"The goal is if someone is a citizen, we want them to be able to register to vote" and vice versa, he said.

But overall, Gessler was pleased with how the November election went and what he was hearing from people about it.

"There's just so many good things," he said. "I was glad to see military and overseas voting go up."

He said it was also nice to see total participation increase statewide.

And the online reporting system to announce the election results went well and was faster than in previous years, he said.

He called the online voter registration system used for the 2012 General Election "a fantastic success."

And he said he looked forward to the next election, when county clerks would have access to the high-speed printers that were funded by a federal grant his office acquired.

"They're sophisticated," Gessler said. "They're the best on the market. Clerks won't have to worry about (ballot) overstock."

The printers, which arrived too late to help with the 2012 election, should allow the clerks to print more ballots as necessary, possibly even print all of the ballots in-house, rather than using outside vendors, he said.

"Going forward it's going to help a lot," Gessler said.

He said he was also looking forward to the committee he put together to determine what kind of uniform voting system would be best for Colorado.

He said that the timetable for the creating a framework for a uniform system was to have it completed by the end of 2013.

That committee includes Morgan County Clerk and Recorder Connie Ingmire.

"Connie is a well-respected (county clerk)," he said. "Your county is well-represented on that committee."

Local perspective

Ingmire also spoke with The Times, talking about Gessler, the 2012 general election and her coming work on the committee Gessler mentioned.

She said she liked working with Gessler.

"He has been very open," she said. "He does give people the opportunity" to ask questions and provide feedback. "I don't remember any other secretary of state doing that. He puts himself on the line."

Ingmire said that as a county clerk, she has appreciated how hard Gessler has worked on "getting things done," such as the online voter registration.

"That was started before him, but he's made it usable," she said.

The campaign finance system was another one that Ingmire said Gessler had a positive impact on.

"He's made it better," she said, both for candidates and clerks.

She said she appreciated the high-speed printer, but that it came in too late for the most recent election and "we could have used it in an emergency."

However, she said she "sees that as a big asset in coming years -- especially for smaller communities. It's nice to have that."

One problem Ingmire did have with the 2012 General Election was meeting the deadlines for military and overseas voting.

She called the timeline for this the "worst" part of the election.

And while the Gessler's office paying for delivery of military and overseas ballots did not save Morgan county any money in 2012, she said she expects that will help in future years.

"We want to make sure our military and overseas people are taken care of," Ingmire said.

As for Gessler's concerns with all-mail-ballot elections, she said that Morgan County had not had any problems with the U.S. Postal Service.

"It seems like the post office has been working very hard with the clerks' offices," she said. "I've been very impressed. That was not always the case."

And Ingmire emphasized that people in Morgan County are OK with all-mail elections.

"The majority of people in Morgan County prefer mail-in ballots," she said. "When we get to the next generation, what are they going to want?"

She also said that the eMachines for voting that were mandated by the federal government and allow for disabled people to vote in the way that they need to do so were not used "a huge amount, but those people who do use it, they so appreciate it."

The eMachines allow these voters to listen to the options and speak to vote, or use limbs instead of fingers to make selections, or to use the "puff and sip" method as the way to run through the ballot, she said. This last method is used by people without use of limbs to send signals to the eMachine by using air pressure by "sipping" (inhaling) or "puffing" (exhaling) on a straw to make selections.

Ingmire said she is just as interested as he is to see where Gessler's idea of a uniform voting system leads with the committee she is on.

"It's going to be interesting," she said. "His timeline is very short. We'll have to see how it works out."

The committee's first meeting was set for Friday.

Also on the committee with Ingmire are county clerks from Denver, El Paso and Mesa counties.

"For now, that's a starting point," she said.

Ingmire also pointed out that she and all the other clerks will have to wait to find out what the state legislature has in store for county clerks regarding elections. The Colorado General Assembly just started a new legislative session only a few days ago.

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